MEMENTO MORI | DRACO MALFOY

EIGHTEEN

Madam Pomfrey gave Ophelia three different elixirs for her pain before she felt any relief. It was almost like a heavy fog had been lifted from her brain. She could see clearly, she no longer felt dizzy and even though there was still a lingering pressure in her head, it was far better than it was thirty minutes prior.

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey." Ophelia smiled as she collected her things from the bedside.

"Don't ever put off head pain, my dear," Madam Pomfrey explained. "Especially at exam time. You need your brain to be at its tip-top shape!"

Nodding, Ophelia and Daphne left the infirmary, with some time left to spare before their exam.

"What's going on with you lately?" Daphne finally asked after a long silence. Ophelia looked at her with her brows furrowed. It was true she hadn't spoken to Daphne in a while, but they both seemed to be busy. "I mean, you've been distant, and not just because of Warrington... you just seem different."

"I'm not sure what you mean, Daph."

The blonde shrugged. "I don't know. You've never been one to talk much, but you used to talk to me more, and I know you've been going through a lot with Cassius and Draco and—"

Ophelia stopped walking. "What do you mean Cassius and Draco?"

Daphne bit her lip. "Everyone sees it, you know." She said lowly, almost as if she was worried how Ophelia was going to react. "I think everyone except you and Draco see it. It's always been you and him. Sure, Blaise was always there too, but it was always you and Draco. It's obvious."

"What's obvious, Daph?" Ophelia hissed. "That Draco and I are best friends? Yeah, we've been like that for years!"

Daphne rolled her eyes dramatically. "You can be so daft, you know? You and Draco are so hooked on one another that you both fail to see it. You may not want to believe it, O, but it's there, clear as day."

"I think you've gone mad, Daph." Ophelia muttered, beginning to walk quickly again.

Daphne caught up. "You think it was coincidence that Draco just stopped talking to you and was so angry with you after he found you snogging Warrington last year?! Especially after that night—"

"What night?" She was growing more annoyed by Daphne's crypticness with each passing second.

Almost as if on cue, and thankfully so, Blaise and Draco rounded the corner, stopping Daphne before she could say any more.

"There you are!" Blaise called out, eyeing Ophelia. "You feeling better?"

Ophelia nodded, still peering at Daphne beside her, who was watching Draco with her eyebrows raised.

"Let's kick this exams arse, what do you say?" Blaise spoke again, cutting the tension.

"Sounds brilliant." Ophelia muttered, leading the way into Professor Binns' classroom.

* * *

Draco met Ophelia in the Common Room where they planned to walk to the Quidditch Pitch together. The others had already left, leaving Ophelia to rest her still-sore head a little while longer.

"How's your headache?" Draco asked as soon as she reached the bottom step. She probably looked a mess, she sure felt like it.

"Still there, but manageable." Ophelia shrugged. "If it gets bad again I'll just head back to the castle."

The pair walked to the pitch together, noticing the twenty-foot hedge maze that spanned further than their eyes could see. There was a thick, eerie mist surrounding the hedges, surely making it that much more difficult for the champions to see where they were going.